Fuchsia excorticata, Kōtukutuku, Tree fuchsia

Fuchsia excorticata, Kōtukutuku Photo: Jeremy Rolfe

Fuchsia excorticata, Kōtukutuku Photo: Jeremy Rolfe

Fuchsia excorticata, tree fuchsia, kōtukutuku, is one of the few plants in our indigenous flora that
is deciduous, that is, it usually sheds its leaves in winter. So look now for the trees up to 12 m
tall and with trunks up to 60 cm diameter, with peeling, brown, papery bark. The dainty, deep
red flowers hang down on slender stalks.

Tree fuchsia is common on bush edges in lowland to
lower-montane forests. It colonises and stabilises steep gullies in e.g. the Tararua Range. The NZ
fuchsia species are the only fuchsia species in the world which have blue pollen. Fuchsias are
sometimes described as ‘possum ice-cream’ because possums can browse the trees to death.